Nona Goodrich asked Charles Todd:

Why does Rutledge not use fingerprints as evidence? I know the Met was using them but this doesn’t happen. Is it because Rutledge doesn’t have a DS for his out of London investigations? Thanks, Nona G.

Charles Todd Dear Nona:

Finger prints and their history can be found in Wikipedia at this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerp... It is a starting point for your research,

While in use in Rutledge's day they were primarily used in metropolitan areas, There was no central databast or computerized searches. All the finger print analysis and comparison was done by hand. Primarily it was used for known persons who had a fingerprint file. The use of fingerprints was not helpful for finding persons who did not have an arrest or other records.

As for DS involvment, manpower at places such as Scotland Yard were impacted by the war, and there were very few DS to assign to every Inspector or Chief Inspector, When it came to cases outside London, the High Constable for each county were the ones who filed a request with Scotland Yard to investigate a crime when their expertise was needed. However Sergent Gibson is a valuable resource for Rutledge.

I hope I answered your questions.

All the Best,
Charles Todd

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